{"id":26469,"date":"2004-04-10T11:16:17","date_gmt":"2004-04-10T16:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2004\/04\/10\/column-its-okay-to-hurt\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:41","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:41","slug":"column-its-okay-to-hurt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2004\/04\/10\/column-its-okay-to-hurt\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: It’s Okay To Hurt"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sometimes it’s okay to shake your head. Sometimes it’s okay to ask the question, “Why?”<\/p>\n
Heck, sometimes it’s even okay for a grown man, the head hockey coach of a national powerhouse, to tear up.<\/p>\n
That time is now for Maine.<\/p>\n
Coach Tim Whitehead said it best: there’s almost no way to put feelings into words, as his club, for the second time in three years, was denied a national championship.<\/p>\n
This time it came in a nailbiter that knocked off the 2002 title game against Minnesota that ranked as the top tension game on my list. This time for Maine, it was a Murphy’s Law night that just didn’t seem like one when Maine would catch a break.<\/p>\n
In the end, though, the Black Bears return to Orono, one of the ultimate big-time-hockey, small-time-towns around, without their third national championship trophy.<\/p>\n
Two years ago it was a Minnesota goal with 52 seconds left and a controversial overtime call that led to the game-winning goal. Saturday it was as opposite, yet as similar to that game as you could get.<\/p>\n
This time there’s no doubt that Maine was beat. Sure, the Black Bears scored a goal that was disallowed early in the 1-0 loss, but this time it was clear-cut — right along with the rules, a correct call that even the players said was “forgotten” as soon as it could be.<\/p>\n
Still, it seems hard to find an explanation.<\/p>\n
Some might call it karma — less than a month ago Maine beat Massachusetts in the Hockey East final, 2-1, in a game that saw the Minutemen have a goal disallowed in regulation for the same reason as Maine on Saturday — a skate in the crease. Maine won that game in overtime.<\/p>\n
So karma, yeah, maybe.<\/p>\n